Miley Says Goodbye?
by AThousandTimesMore
Summary: Seeing Lilly with Oliver becomes too much for Miley to handle, so she convinces her dad to move them back to Crowley Corners, Tennessee. But she doesn't see that leaving could hurt both of them more than it would hurt to stay. Liley
1. Chapter One: Goodbye

"You _what?_"

Miley sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I'm moving back to Tennessee," she repeated, closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the shocked faces of her two best friends. She hated that she had to do this, but her dad had given her no other choice. Well, he had given her two choices: tell them herself or have them find out when they found the moving truck parked in the Stewarts' driveway.

"You can stay at my house," Lilly said, thinking quickly. "Like when you let me stay at your house for a couple months? It can be just like that until we graduate! My dad won't mind."

The brunette struggled to hold tears back. "You don't understand," she whispered, looking away from their confused faces. "I _want_ to move back to Tennessee. I _asked_ my dad to move back."

There was a heavy, tension-filled silence. Miley waited anxiously for them to say something, anything, so she would know that she never had to repeat that ever again.

"Why?"

It was Oliver who asked, confusion twisting his face. She trained her eyes on his, struggling not to look at Lilly, because she knew that if she looked at Lilly then she wouldn't be able to hold it together any longer.

"I miss it," she whispered. "Everything about it. The space, the solitude, the quiet, Blue Jeans, Mamaw, everything. I love Malibu, but…I think it's time to go back home. Jackson's staying here for college. Dad's helping him get an apartment right now and as soon as Jackson gets moved out, we're going to pack everything else up and rent the house out."

"You're renting?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, Dad doesn't want to sell the house because he's attached to it, so he's just going to rent it out until I graduate from high school and move out, then he's going to be moving back here," Miley said.

"So the only reason you and your dad are moving is because you asked him to," Lilly accused. Miley winced. "You didn't even think to ask us, did you? Do you know how much this affects Oliver and me?"

"Lilly…."

"No, don't even talk to me, Miley," Lilly said coldly. "And when you change your mind, you know my phone number. Don't plan on seeing me or talking to me until then." She turned and ran out of Miley's house. Oliver watched her leave with a bewildered expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, Oliver," Miley whimpered, shaking her head as tears began to stream down her face. "I… I can't do it anymore." He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Miley, allowing her to bury her face in his shoulder and cling to him as she sobbed. She took fistfuls of his shirt in her hands and squeezed as tightly as she could until she finally calmed down.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," he encouraged, letting her go and patting her on the back gently. "Lilly'll come around when she realizes that her best friend is going to be moving to the other side of the country. And you can still keep in touch with us. There's e-mailing, writing, calling, texting, and video-conferencing. It'll be fine."

"Thanks, Oliver," Miley sniffed, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "You should go after her, though. It isn't good for her to be alone when she's upset, and since she isn't talking to me right now…."

"I'll talk some sense into her," Oliver promised, giving her a lopsided smile before he jogged after his girlfriend.

As soon as Oliver left, Miley collapsed on the couch, putting her face in her hands as sobs shook her body. She heard someone walk up beside her and felt the weight of someone sitting down next to her before a gentle hand was placed on her back.

"Are you sure you want to do this, bud?"

"Yeah," Miley whispered. "I… I can't stand seeing them together. It hurts too much. I love Lilly too much. And I can never tell her that."

"Only if you're sure."

She hesitated for a moment. "I'm sure."

* * *

Miley found Lilly sitting on the beach by herself later that night. She stood a few feet behind her, watching her silently. The blonde was sitting cross-legged on the sand, her hands resting, palms facing down, on her knees as she stared out at the ocean. After fifteen minutes, Miley stepped forward and sat down next to her best friend, not saying anything to break the silence.

"You know, I've always hated change," Lilly whispered suddenly, not turning her head to look at Miley. She continued to stare out at the ocean, watching the waves lap at the sand. "Ever since I can remember. When I was really little, three years old, my mom and dad got divorced. They just didn't love each other anymore. And when I was seven, my brother went to live with my dad. I barely ever saw either of them. Then I didn't get to see my brother at all when he graduated from high school and went to the other side of the country for college. My mom moved to Atlanta, Georgia, for work and I moved in with you. I moved in with my dad when he moved to Malibu."

They were both quiet.

"I don't want to move away from you," Miley said quietly. She paused, biting her lip nervously before she continued. "If I could, I would bring you along, but… you have Oliver and your dad here. You have school and classes and you've been here all your life. I would never ask you to leave all that. My dad wouldn't care if we brought you along, but… but I could never do that to you. Never. I could never make you choose."

"And I would go with you in a second."

"Maybe at first, but once you realized everything you were losing, you would change your mind," Miley corrected, looking over at Lilly. Their eyes met. "Lilly, you're my best friend in the world and I never want to leave you, but I just have this feeling… I _have_ to go back. I don't know if you understand, but I _have_ to."

"I know," Lilly whispered, placing a hand gently over Miley's. "And I'm not going to try to stop you from going."

"We can stay in touch, though," Miley said quickly, grasping Lilly's hand tightly in her own. "We can arrange times that we can call each other, and we can text each other all the time. There's e-mail and snail mail, too. We can write out long letters to each other. And then there's video conferencing…."

"Don't fool yourself," Lilly whispered, pulling her hand out of Lilly's grasp. "You know that long distance friendships rarely work out. Sure, we'll call and write each other diligently in the first few months, but it's going to start trailing off until we're only texting forwards to each other and occasionally asking how the other person is doing."

"Lilly, don't say that!" Miley cried. "It's not going to be like that with us!"

"You're my best friend, and I never want to let that happen, but I don't want to get my hopes up," Lilly said quietly.

Miley pulled her into a hug.

* * *

"That's the last of it," Miley's dad said, loading the last box into the moving truck and slamming down the door. He secured the latch and locked it in place, turning to Miley and wiping his hands on his jeans. "You ready, bud?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Miley whispered.

"Go ahead and say goodbye," he said softly.

Miley turned to see Lilly standing in her driveway, her hands in her pockets and one foot on her skateboard. The brunette walked forward, struggling to hold back tears as she came to a stop in front of her best friend. A few minutes passed before Miley was almost bowled over. She clung tightly to the blonde, who had her arms wrapped around her neck and her face buried in her shoulder.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Lilly sobbed.

"I'll miss you, too," Miley whimpered.

They held on to each other for as long as they could before Lilly finally pulled away. "I got you something," she whispered, pulling a small, wrapped box out of the pocket of her cargo shorts, which Miley remembered that she hadn't worn clothes like that since before she had started dating Oliver. She took the box Lilly offered her and opened it, giving Lilly a watery smile when she saw what it was.

"Can you put it on me?" she asked, picking up the silver necklace gently and handing it to Lilly. The blonde nodded and took the necklace from Miley, gently putting it around Miley's neck and clasping it in the back. Miley fingered the charm hanging from the necklace: two hands holding a crowned heart. "It's beautiful. Now I feel bad because I didn't get anything for you."

"Don't worry about it," Lilly said with a wave of her hand. "Just… just promise never to forget."

"How could I forget you?"

"Come on, Miles!" her dad yelled. "I don't mean to cut this short, but we have to get on the road if we want to get to our hotel before it gets too late."

Miley gave Lilly one last hug before she got in the car with her dad. The man they had hired to drive the moving truck for them was already pulling out of the driveway and her dad stepped on the gas to catch up to him. Miley turned and watched as Lilly skateboarded behind the car, trying to keep up with them, until they were going to fast for her to even think about keeping up. She watched Lilly until she shrunk to a miniscule size and they turned the corner.

_**I got this idea the other day when I was home sick and watching three hours of Hannah Montana. The preview for **_**Miley Says Goodbye?**_** kept running and I finally decided that I would write a story based on the title and how I think the episode should go. Of course, that's never going to happen, so it's just my wishful thinking. I'm thinking that this is going to be somewhere between two and five chapters, depending on how in-depth I get with it. And I'm thinking about doing a sister fic from Lilly's POV. Tell me what you think. REVIEW!!! Thank you all for reading.**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	2. Chapter Two: Letter

Miley wiped her hands on her jeans and shielded her face from the sun as she looked at the person riding towards her. She had spent all day building her own special place, her gazebo, and she had gotten most of the base finished. Tomorrow she would get the supports and maybe the sides finished, and then she would start working on the roof.

It had been three years since she had moved back to Tennessee, and while it had been hard at first, she had gradually grown back into the lifestyle. Unfortunately, Blue Jeans had died almost a year earlier, which left her without a horse. She had refused to get another one, just using any one she chose from the stables Mamaw Ruthie owned. No horse would ever replace Blue Jeans. Just like no girl would ever replace Lilly.

She quickly shook her head, dispelling all thoughts of Lilly from her mind. It had been three years since she had seen her best friend and two and a half years since she had last communicated with her. She supposed that in the hustle and bustle of Lilly moving into her dad's place, graduating high school, being involved with Oliver, and starting college that phone numbers and e-mail addresses had been changed, contacts had been forgotten, and Miley had been pushed to the side. Of course, she hadn't made much of an effort to get back in touch with Lilly, but it really wasn't her problem.

Her father had moved back to Malibu just as he had said he would when they had moved out to Tennessee. By that time, Jackson had found an apartment that he liked and actually dug into his schoolwork, deciding that he wanted to go into the medical field. How he ever got accepted into any medical programs that were offered anywhere around the country, Miley didn't know. On the other hand, Miley had decided to stay with Mamaw Ruthie in Tennessee, taking online classes and flying out to take final exams at the end of each semester. She had fallen back in love with the countryside and had no will to leave it behind again.

The brunette sighed and picked up the hammer she had put down thirty seconds before, weighing it in her hand before picking up a handful of nails. She finished nailing the last board in place and set the hammer down gently, sitting down on the floor of the gazebo as the horseman approached her and swung off his horse. He was holding an envelope in his hand.

"Hey, Jason, how's it going?" Miley asked as he stopped in front of her, casting a shadow across her face.

"Pretty good," he replied in a laid back tone. "Just running some errands for your grandmother. This gazebo is coming along nicely. Are you sure that you just started it today? Have you been sneaking out here and working on it little by little?"

"I found the foundation, so that was helpful," Miley shrugged, looking back at the floor of the gazebo. "That helped a lot. Otherwise, I would have had to start from scratch. And Mamaw helped me draw the plans out. Did you know that she has a major in architecture?"

"No, I didn't," he said. "Here, your grandmother wanted me to give this to you. She said that you'd want it as soon as possible." He held out the letter to her and Miley wrinkled her brow in confusion as she stood up and took the letter. Jason watched as she read the address on the letter and she sat back down in shock.

"You… you can go now," she whispered. Jason nodded hesitantly, turning back to his horse slowly and mounting. He glanced back at her one last time before he gently tapped his heels to the horse's sides and galloped away. As soon as Jason was out of eyesight, Miley ripped the envelope open and unfolded the letter, greedily taking in the words that spilled across the page.

_Dear Miley,_

_I don't know where you are right now, or even if you're in the country. I'm going to take a chance that you're still at your grandmother's house, and if you aren't there, the chance that your grandma will forward this letter to you. Hopefully you'll get this in time. If not… well, I can't help that, can I? Of course, I won't know if you're choosing to ignore me or if you just didn't get the letter. It's something I'll have to live with and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that you get the letter._

_It's been a long time, hasn't it, Miley? Three years since we've seen each other. I was right. We dutifully wrote and e-mailed each other those first couple months. Scheduled times to call each other every week. But then the phone calls gradually stopped. Then the letters, and finally we were too busy to e-mail each other. Busy? Who am I kidding, we just were too lazy to click the 'New E-mail' button and type something in to the other person. This isn't just your fault, Miley. It's mine, too. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry we didn't stay in touch. And I want to make up for it._

_I know that you aren't Hannah anymore, but you have to have some connections left, right? At least enough money to book a flight to New York City. Enclosed are the directions to a café by my apartment. From September 7__th__ to September 11__th__, I'll wait in the back of the café for you to show up from six to nine p.m. every night. You don't need to RSVP or call me. You don't know my phone number and there's no return address on this envelope, so I guess you really can't._

_You don't know how much I've missed you in the past three years. Or maybe you do. I wouldn't know. But I can't count how many times I've cried myself to sleep because I didn't have a best friend to talk to about my problems, or because I went through a difficult breakup, or even just because I didn't have someone to laugh and gorge on ice cream with. You had to have been just as upset as I have been. And for the past three years, I've tried to avoid the fact that we've been growing apart. Telling myself that I'll call you tomorrow and let you know my new phone number and address. But it hasn't happened until now._

_I know that you must have a busy life and you probably don't have time to come and see me in New York, but… but I love you, Miley. You're the best friend I've ever had, and maybe even more than a friend. There's nothing more that I would like than to see you right now, and I'm hoping that the same goes for you. So I'll be waiting here, hoping that you miss me enough to tear yourself away from whatever you're doing right now and come see me and catch up with me. I really do miss you, Miles. I really do._

_I hope you'll come._

_Your friend, Lilly_

_P.S. If you do come, make sure you arrive on one of the days when I'll be waiting for you so you don't have to pay for hotel expenses or anything like that. I have my own apartment and I'm sure that accommodations can be made for you to stay here. God, I sound so formal. How's this? You can come sleep over and we can watch TV and eat popcorn like old times. Love ~ Lilly_

Miley wiped the tears from her eyes as she read the letter three times over. Standing up, she packed away her tools and stowed them in a cubby underneath the gazebo floor, going to her horse afterwards and quickly mounting. Tapping her heels lightly to the horse's sides, they sprang forward towards Mamaw's country house.

The brunette dismounted as her horse slowed, coming to a running stop right in front of the corral. "Hey, Matt, can you take care of Cinnamon for me?" she called out to one of the men who worked for her grandma. He nodded and jogged towards them, taking the reigns when she handed them to him. "Thank you so much," she yelled over her shoulder as she took off running to the house.

Mamaw Ruthie was in the kitchen making dinner when Miley burst into the kitchen. The older woman looked up with an understanding expression on her face and then back down as she continued to add ingredients to the soup she was making. "You got the letter from Lilly," she stated softly.

"Yeah," Miley gasped, bending over and leaning on her knees for support as she tried to catch her breath. "She… she wants me to come and visit her sometimes between September seventh and September thirteenth."

"May I see the letter?" Mamaw Ruthie asked, wiping her hands on her aprons and holding one of them out for the letter. Miley nodded and pulled the letter out from where she had stowed it in her back pocket, placing it in Mamaw Ruthie's hand. The older woman opened it and her eyes scanned down the page as Miley watched anxiously.

"I suppose you'll be wanting to go," Mamaw Ruthie speculated as she set the letter down on the kitchen table and went back to her soup. "Well, deep down you want to go, at least. But you aren't so sure of yourself."

Miley was used to these deep comments that Mamaw Ruthie made, considering that she somehow put all the feelings that were running through Miley's mind into words several times a day over the past three years. And, more often than not, they had to do with Lilly. Once again, she was exactly right about what Miley was feeling, as well.

"It's just… I'm happy here," Miley sighed, sitting down in a chair and leaning her elbows on the table. She rested her head in her hands. "I love the country, the hard work, being able to be independent, the feeling of freedom, not having to account to anyone except you… it's peaceful here, Mamaw. And in the city… it's loud, everyone is demanding, you report to a person who reports to another and that person reports to another until finally you aren't sure who is reporting to who…. And… and it scares me, Mamaw."

"What scares you, Miles?" the older woman asked softly. Miley looked up and into Mamaw Ruthie's eyes. "What scares you? Going back to a world that is exactly like you just described or going back to Lilly and the possibility that you once again may have your heart broken by the person you love?"

A tear fell from Miley's eye and trickled down her cheek as she turned away from Mamaw Ruthie's searching gaze. "I'm afraid of Lilly," she admitted quietly. "I'm afraid of what she'll do to me. And it hasn't been getting better, these feelings I have for her. The farther from her I am, the more it hurts. But I'm afraid to get any closer because I don't know what would hurt more: never seeing the person I love or getting rejected or ignored by the person I love."

"Miley, honey… let me give you a piece of advice," Mamaw Ruthie said, once again wiping her hands on her apron. She pulled a chair up beside Miley and looked into her eyes. "This, the freedom, the independence, the peace, everything you just said, is going to be here for you forever. It's going to be here long after the time you need and want it. But Lilly isn't always going to be there asking for you to come and talk with her. You're lucky that she's written this beautiful letter to you inviting you to come and stay with her. I say take the opportunity while it lasts, because this may never happen again. And later on in life, when you look back at this, you're going to regret it if you don't go to see her and appreciate it if you do.

"Now I'm going to stop talking and finish dinner," Mamaw Ruthie finished, leaning on the table as she stood up. "And you're going to have to make a decision. Think long and hard before you decide against anything, because once the time passes, there's no going back."

The brunette watched as Mamaw Ruthie went back to her pot of soup and started adding more ingredients, finally standing up, grabbing the letter, and walking out of the kitchen to her bedroom.

Flicking on the light as she stepped into her bedroom, Miley was immediately calmed by the light yellow that surrounded her. Even though her room was small, it was familiar and something that Miley wouldn't trade for the Queen's bedroom in Buckingham Palace. She set the letter on her desk and collapsed back on her bed, staring up at the white ceiling fan as it slowly rotated above her.

Memories of her time with Lilly and Oliver filtered back into her mind, playing like a movie in front of her eyes. The days when they would go to the beach and Lilly and Oliver would surf as Miley just watched. Oliver would wipe out more often than he would ride out a wave, but Lilly… she was like the goddess of the ocean. Then they would go to Rico's and buy his overpriced nachos, complaining to the boy until he got mad at them and told them to leave. When they went to the movies, Lilly would sit in between Oliver and Miley, but Miley liked to think that she leaned more towards her.

She sighed, sitting up and putting her head in her hands. If she really thought about it and thought it through, she knew what the choice would be: to go to New York to see Lilly. It was the only thing that had really bothered her in the past three years, especially in the time when she hadn't talked to Lilly. There had always been that thought nagging at the back of her mind that Lilly might need her, that the blonde might need a shoulder to cry on, and that Miley herself wanted a best friend to talk to.

Miley looked at the day-by-day calendar on her desk. It was September fifth, which meant that she had to book a flight now. She got on her laptop and quickly booked a flight for September thirteenth, which was the only flight left between the seventh and the thirteenth and the last day Lilly would be waiting for her. Since she wouldn't be checking into a hotel, she decided that she would just pack the bare necessities: an extra change of clothes, a pair of sneakers, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a brush, travel-sized shampoo, along with conditioner and body wash, her cell phone charger, deodorant, her iPod, a book to read, her journal, money, and her laptop.

"May I borrow the truck next Friday?" Miley asked, running into the kitchen and skidding to a stop.

"You're going," Mamaw Ruthie stated with a small smile, not even glancing up at her granddaughter. "I knew you would. I'll have Jason drive you to the airport Friday morning. Did you buy a round trip ticket or are you just going to call when you meet up with Lilly?"

"I'll call you when I meet up with Lilly," Miley said. "Thank you so much, Mamaw. I'm going to need to go to the bank to withdraw money. I don't know how things are going to work out, so I may need to stay in a hotel. On second thought, I'll just bring my credit card. There's enough money in my account…."

"Enough money," the older woman snorted. Miley grinned. Her account had more than enough money to get her through the rest of college, probably go to the best college in the world if she wanted to, and through the rest of life. All of her Hannah money was in her account and she was steadily earning more money by selling CDs, memorabilia, and DVDs of her concerts.

"I'm going to make sure everything is ready for Friday," Miley called over her shoulder as she ran back up to her room.

Mamaw Ruthie shook her head and smiled to herself. This was the first time she had seen Miley truly happy for a long time, and she knew that happiness came from Lilly. She made a mental note to call her son and tell him that his daughter was finally going to see her best friend.

* * *

Miley was pushed through the terminal and towards the baggage claim as she tried to get through the airport. She was lucky because she had been able to book a ticket straight from Nashville to New York City. Lilly had given her directions to the café from two airports: the John F. Kennedy International Airport and the LaGuardia Airport, both located in Queens. Miley had come in through the John F Kennedy International Airport, which was located on the Grand Central Parkway.

The brunette got into one of the taxis parked outside the airport and gave him the address of the café. It was eight thirty, which meant that she had less than half an hour to get to the café. Past that, this trip would be pointless. The taxi pulled up to the café at ten after nine. Miley quickly stuff several twenties into the taxi driver's hands, muttering for him to keep the change.

A blonde was walking down the sidewalk, her hands in the pocket of her hoodie and her shoulders slumped. Miley bit her lip anxiously, hesitating before calling out to her, not sure if it really was who she thought it was. "Lilly!"

The girl turned and Miley saw that it really was Lilly.

_**I'm really sorry that it took so long for me to update this. I hope that you thought that this chapter was worth it. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible, probably within the next week. Thank you for the reviews from: Freudian Slips Cause Problems, Ryan T. Morris, Smiley756, 20kels, Lady Tru, -DreamScheme-, JustAnotherSlowGoodbye, AliasSpyCrazy, ff82g, ShadowClub, shawn-n-belle, and rockchick13244. You guys are awesome. Please keep up the reviews! I really appreciate them!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


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